Iwan Baan

  • Photography
  • Books
  • Exhibitions
  • News
  • About
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

BBVA Madrid – Herzog & de Meuron

2020

BBVA’s new headquarters is located on the northern periphery of Madrid. The site faces the highway and is surrounded by newly built offices, commercial buildings, and residential developments. When the bank acquired the site, eight unfinished office buildings occupied a substantial portion of the land, and as much of the existing buildings as possible were to be incorporated into the new development.

A linear structure of three-story buildings, with courtyards, passages and irrigated gardens, is laid over the entire site – which has a considerable slope – like a carpet, analogous to an Arabian garden. We chose to “internalize” the complex, to design it uniquely around the inner needs of BBVA, given that the surroundings didn’t have much identity, there simply wasn’t much to relate to. The low-rise arrangement fosters communication: instead of taking elevators, people walk up stairs that encourage informal exchange; maximized visual transparency gives everybody a view and generates a sense of community; whilst the relatively small units permit employees to identify with their particular workgroup.

Tags: Building, Office, Herzog & de Meuron, Madrid and Spain

Other projects tagged with Building, Office, Herzog & de Meuron, Madrid and Spain
The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire UK – David Chipperfield
CAFA, Beijing – Arata Isozaki
Visitor center at Park Vijversburg – Junya Ishigami + Studio MAKS
Digital Beijing, Beijing Olympic Park, China Pei Zhu
Bait Ur Ruf Mosque – Marina Tabassum
Mountain House, Nevada City USA – Atelier Bow-Wow
Prada Transformer, Waist Down, Seoul – OMA
Reforma 27 Alberto Kalach – Alberto Kalach
The Garden that Climbs the Stairs, Bilbao Spain – Diana Balmori
CityLife Milano – Zaha Hadid
Zaryadye Park – Diller Scofidio + Renfro
VM Houses, Copenhagen – Bjarke Ingels + Julien de Smedt
HomeDefaultVM Houses, Copenhagen – Bjarke Ingels + Julien de Smedt
Iwan Baan Photography, Rozenstraat 145, 1016 NP Amsterdam, The Netherlands, e-mail: studio@iwan.com — all images © Iwan Baan 1996 - 2021